Ending the Drug War in Latin America

by Jacob G. Hornberger The Internet is abuzz with talk about how Latin American leaders are increasingly considering the idea of drug legalization.

Latin America should not hesitate to end the war on drugs ó and the sooner, the better. Latin American countries are paying the biggest price for the drug war. Murders, assassinations, kidnappings, robberies, thefts, muggings, gang wars, infringements on civil liberties, military involvement in law enforcement, foreign interference in domestic affairs (especially by the U.S. government), and, of course, massive political corruption.

Black markets ó illegal markets ó produce all of those sorts of things. Thatís what prohibition of alcohol did and what prohibition of drugs does. Legalization would eliminate it all, immediately.

Sure, U.S. officials would go bananas. Almost certainly, they would threaten a cut off of foreign aid to any nation that legalizes drugs.

The fact is that the U.S. government, the state governments, and local governments have become dependent on the drug war. Many law-enforcement officials and judges are on the take and have been for a long time.

There are also the asset forfeiture laws, which enable law-enforcement agencies to seize (i.e., steal) peopleís personal assets and convert them to law-enforcement ownership and use.

There is also the power factor to consider. Drug-enforcement agents love to lord it over the citizenry by abusing and harassing them with drug laws. Itís a mentality that says, ďWe control you, not the other way around. We dominate you. We order you. And youíll submit and obey when we tell you not to possess or sell substances that we donít approve of.Ē

And, of course, there is the racial bigotry factor. For a bigot, there is nothing better than the drug war. By becoming a law-enforcement officer, a bigot is able to harangue blacks and Hispanics to his heartís content, and itís all legal. And if his victim objects or talks back, the cop has the perfect excuse to bash his head in. After all, whoís a jury going to believe ó someone dressed in a police uniform or someone from the ghetto?

Latin Americans have the opportunity to lead the world out of one of the biggest and most destructive government disasters in history. To heck with what U.S. officials say or do. Latin Americans should just end the war on drugs within their countries. Itís the only way to restore peace and harmony.
__
Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation.

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the DMCA and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.